Adapted from C How to program Ó 2000 Prentice Hall, Inc. 
Basics of a C Program Development Environment
•Phases of C Programs:
1.Edit
2.Preprocess
3.Compile
4.Link (or Build)
5.Load
6.Execute
Loader
Primary
Memory
Program is created in
the editor and stored
on disk.
Preprocessor program
processes the code.
Loader puts program
in memory.
CPU takes each
instruction and
executes it, possibly
storing new data
values as the program
executes.
Compiler
Compiler creates
object code and stores
it on disk.
Linker links the object
code with the libraries,
creates a.out and
stores it on disk
Editor
Preprocessor
Linker
 
CPU
Primary
Memory
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Disk
Disk
Disk
Disk
Disk